SR 4 billion to support local content and increased telecommunications traffic during the Corona pandemic

Apr 27, 2020

SR 4 billion to support local content and increased telecommunications traffic during the Corona pandemic

In line with the additional government initiatives package approved by the The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, to support institutions and individuals, Senior VP of Corporate Affairs at stc’s Group, Abdullah Abdulrahman Alkanhl, said that stc is committed to continue extending its support to SMEs in the private sector to mitigate the impact on their bushiness during the Corona pandemic through stc’s support package that is extension of the urgent initiatives previously announced by the government to support the economic activities most affected by this pandemic. Alkanhl praised the package that supports local content in companies which are 51% owned by the state in order to minimize the impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on economic activities and the private sector.

Alkanhl reiterated stc’s commitment to promote local content and SMEs in order to stimulate the economy in the local market and drive demand to local products and services in accordance with the Council of Ministers’ decision in this regard. Stc announced that it will continue to nurture start-ups and entrepreneurs through batches six and seven of its inspireU program which will be announced in the coming days as part of stc’s strategy to promote local content through its Rawafed program which contributed SR 4 billion to promote local content in the past years. Alkanhl also nodded to stc’s initiative to exempt SME’s that wish to temporarily suspend services from the temporary suspension fees in line with the government’s direction and to mitigate the financial burden that could impact this vital sector in light of the current circumstances.

Alkanhl said that stc is proud of its role in the success of the first virtual G20 summit in which it acted as the digital enabler in partnership with the relevant government entities. Stc sent over 2.5 billion messages in 10 languages to millions of citizens and residents to help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, and doubled the operational capacity in 22 health centers as part of a SR 100 million community initiative that benefited about 5 million patients. In line with its constant support for entrepreneurs and innovation to enable digital transformation and enrich the
community in accordance with the Dare Strategy, stc supported a number of initiatives including the Hope Hackathon initiative in cooperation with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

The VP of Corporate Affairs said that the engagement included various community segments including individuals and the public and private sectors. Stc offered free access to education and health platforms and doubled the data capacity for its existing and new prepaid quicknet customers without additional cost, ensuring a quality experience for our children in using such platforms which led to a 1,000% increase in traffic for education platforms and 200% for health platforms. The Company also offered 40 thousand free data sims to support the Attaa “Digital Giving Initiative” and exempted customers in quarantine from paying their April bills. Alkanhl said that stc exempted its customers in quarantine from paying their April bills and offered a 50% discount for fiber optics services to reduce the cost for the network users during this period.